Tutoring A Dragon

The Halloween Ball

Friday, the Day of the Ball

Thursday had gone by so quickly; it was almost like it had just run away. The girls camped out in Padma and Ron's rooms, all turning in early to get their beauty sleep.

The boys, however, were confined to Ernie and Pansy's rooms. They had paced all that morning, only to be jumped upon and asked to the dance when they ventured out of the rooms. Then they settled into a much more relaxed state, and remarked on how they hadn't been nervous! No way! They were macho, tough guys, not concerned if their girlfriends had asked someone else or not.

But, deep down, they knew that they'd all been piles of jello at heart.

~*~

Hermione woke with a yawn.

"Good morning, ladies!" she yelled. All the girls woke with a start, started to complain, and then realized it was The Day. "Ten-hut!"

All the girls (excepting Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, and Padma) fell into line. Hermione got out a hairbrush, and slapped into her hand threateningly. "Today is The Day, girls. The Day of the Big One. You know what I'm talking about, the Day of the Halloween Ball. Now, it's," Hermione looked at her watch, "seven thirty. You slept half an hour late. We only have twelve and a half hours to get ready. And we have makeup and hair to experiment with. Not to mention showering about a gazillion times. Now, march your butts upstairs and take showers! On the double! And don't push!"

Hermione grinned at Lavender, Padma, and Parvati.

"Whoa, remind me never to cross you," said Lavender. "I'm going back to the Tower to take a quick shower, I'll be back in half and hour. Ciao, babes!!" And, with that, she floated out in her lavender silk robe and pink flannel pajamas.

"She is really good at exits, isn't she?" said Hermione absently to the other two.

"Yeah," replied Parvati, skimming through a magazine, ripping out pages when she saw something.

~*~

Meanwhile, in the guy's room...

"Unnnn-huuuu," snored Ron.

"Merblewitz," said Harry, rolling over on a couch.

"Marry me, 'Mione," murmured Draco, totally asleep.

"What?" yelled Ewan, having heard Draco. This was met with many angry shouts.

Draco sat up, still half asleep. "Ewan, mate, have you ever heard the proverb, 'do not bless your neighbor too early in the morning, lest he should think it was a curse'? Well, if you haven't, let me explain." In his current stage of not-yet-awake-syndrome, his tactfulness and sneakiness and everything that made him not rip Ewan head off normally wasn't there yet. That required a pot of coffee. "Since," he said, waving his hands to illustrate, "you so obviously think that you talking to anyone is akin to blessing them, you have the need to talk when, let's face it, no one wants to hear it!

"So, you talk early in the morning when we're still sleeping! And, I'm talking that as a curse! So, here's a silencing spell." He waved his wand, which he'd pulled out whilst talking, and muttered a silencing spell at Ewan. "This'll wear off when I wake up. Nighty-night." Draco plopped back down on his couch, rolled over, and fell back into a very deep sleep.

"Whoa," said Dean Thomas, eyes wide in the shock of Draco smarting off Ewan. "Go, Draco!" And he promptly fell back asleep.

~*~

"So, girls," said Hermione to Lavender (who had come back), Padma, and Parvati. "D'you think I messed up with Draco?"

They glanced at each other. "Ohhhhh noooooo! No, no, no, no!" they replied.

Hermione glared at them. "Honest answer, please."

"Yes," said Lavender.

"Yes," said Parvati.

"Hoobaby, yeah!" said Padma.

"Oh," said Hermione faintly.

"Yeah, Well," said Padma. "We all make mistakes. You just made a catastrophic one, that's all. We all do that. Sometimes..."

"Yeah...We all do..." said Hermione softly. "I think I'm going to go back to my rooms to get ready, no offense."

"Ah, none taken," said Lavender. "In fact, take this bottle."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "What's in it?"

"Sobering potion. Order some Firewhiskey from the House-Elves. You need some. Be sure to take this after drinking the whiskey," said Lavender cheerfully.

"See you tonight!" they called after Hermione as she left.

~*~

Noon rolled around and the boys woke with a yawn and summoned House-Elves.

Binky, Clinky, Minkey, and Ducky were the ones who answered.

"Ok, then," said Draco, slapping his hands together. "I'll have two eggs over hard. Break the yolks and have them be really, really, really hard. Also, I'll take four slices of bacon, two pieces of toast with creamy peanut butter and two with strawberry jam. Also, I'll take a medium pitcher of both orange juice and one of milk. Now, is anyone else hungry?"

"Yeah, I'll take a crack at this thing you call 'eating', Draco, mate," replied Ron. "I'll have scrambled eggs. Now, I don't want them mixed with milk. I want them mixed with Evian. I can't stand milk-mixed scrambled eggs. And five pieces of blackberry jam covered toast. Also, I'll take five pieces of bacon and a large pitcher of milk."

Harry, Jon, Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Ewan all had two pieces of toast, two biscuits, three pieces of bacon and a medium pitcher of milk each.

"Urrrrrrrrp!" burped Ron. "I tell you what I am going to miss, Hogwarts with the passion of ten thousand burning suns."

The guys blinked at him.

Ron shrugged defensively. "Hey! It's what I tell Padma!"

"You tell Padma that you'll 'miss her with the passions of a thousand burning suns'?" said Ewan, covering a partial snicker.

"Look, you jumped-up-no-good-two-bit-snooty--sorry bout this Jon, mate-- Ravenclaw! You know what you can do with your mouth? You can kiss my-"

"Whoa, Ron," said Harry, clapping a hand over Ron's mouth. "Ouch!" He looked around, cradling his hand. "He bit me!"

"You're no good!" cried Ron. "I know that, Harry knows that, hell, we all know that!"

"Ron-" started Draco.

"No, mate, I've got to say this," snarled Ron, advancing on Ewan. "Ever since you got in between Hermione and Draco, here, you've been a burr in our behinds. All of the Gryffindors feel this way, don't we mates?" All the Gryffindors nodded, arms crossed. "But, we thought you might grow out of that cocky, irrepressible, arsehole behavior. But no! You have to be in poor Draco's face about all this Hermione business! Can't you give a gent a rest?"

"Look, Hermione was the one who asked me," said Ewan. "I didn't mean to get in between them, honestly-"

"Oh, cut it out, Ewan!" yelled Jon. "I know that you were trying to pry Hermione away from Draco on purpose. You've been a complete ass and I for one am ashamed of you."

"What? Not you, too, Jon, mate!" said Ewan.

"Yeah, well, just 'cause my da's dating your mum doesn't mean I have to protect your little-" Jon cut off, fuming. "What I mean is that I don't have to look out for you just 'cause da told me to. He's told me about a zillion of other things that I didn't listen to, but this I'm not going to listen to anymore. Especially since your mum is a money-grubbing witch!"

Ewan gasped.

Ernie seized this chance. "Now get out McAlpin!"

"Fine," said Ewan. "I'll leave. But I'll have the last laugh!"

Ernie slammed the portrait in his face, cutting off whatever he was going to say after that. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, going back to his brunch. "We don't care."

~*~

Six PM, Hermione's Room, Two Hours Before the Ball

Hermione sighed as she sat on her bed, looking at her dress robes.

She glanced at the bottle Lavender had given her and momentarily thought of getting wasted. She shook her head, dismissing the idea.

She picked up the bottle, and walked outside to her balcony. Tapping the bottom of the bottle on the handrail, she looked out over the landscape before chucking the bottle at a tree. She heard the satisfying tinkle of broken glass as she turned to head back into her room.

"Why did I do such a stupid thing?" she muttered. "Why?"

She was talking, of course, about her breakup with Draco. She shouldn't have left the party with Ewan. She knew that now. But she couldn't go back in time to change that, could she?

She heard a knocking sound on the portrait downstairs. Before she could get to the door, there was a hissing sound from her fireplace.

"Pssst! Hermione!" said Ron's voice. She turned, and saw his head sticking out of the fire.

"What is it Ron?" she said, coming over to sit on her chair.

"You've got to know something, 'Mione. That knocking's probably Ewan!"

"I'd already thought that, Ron," said Hermione. "Get to the point."

"Well," said Ron, resting his elbows on the stone floor. "He tried to break you and Draco up. It wasn't just some coincidence, dearie. He did it on purpose. Don't let him bamboozle you into his pants, 'Mione, you're smarter than that!"

"He what?" she hissed, fire in her eyes. "Well, then. I'll see you tonight, Ron, dear. Give my regards to dear Harry, too."

As she walked towards the door, she heard a pop, signaling that Ron had left. She walked sedately down the stairs, and out into the common room.

Swinging by the fireplace, she picked up the poker. Then she went the portrait hole, which was more like a portrait passage, and opened the door.

"Ewan." Hermione looked at him coldly. "I've just heard from Ron." Ewan started to sweat. "And he said the most interesting thing about you. Now, I'm going to give you one chance to explain yourself and if you do it wrong, I'm going to bash your brains out. Go."

"Well, I," he started, pulling on his collar. "I really like you, and-"

"Wrong answer," said Hermione, swinging the poker like a baseball bat. "I'd run."

And that's what he did. Ewan, I mean. He ran.

~*~

Six Forty-Five, One hour and Fifteen Minutes Before the Ball

"Fooooooorrrrr he's a jolly good fellow! Fooooooooooooooooorrrr he's a jolly good fellow! Foooooooooorrrr he's a jolly good fellow and nobody can denyyyyyy!!!!" sang all the guys, arms around their neighbor's shoulder, moving like they were dance the Horra.

"TOLD YOU I WASN'T PARANOID FOR NOTHING!" yelled Draco over the singing. "I TOLD YOU, BUT DID YOU LISTEN? NO!!"

"WE APOLOGIZED, YOU GREAT PRAT!" yelled the other guys. "GET OVER IT!"

And they went on singing.

~*~

Seven thirty, Half an Hour Before the Ball

It was half an hour before the ball in the Castle Hogwarts, and not a female was stirring, not even a first year.

All the eligible girls who were going to the ball were literally barricaded inside their dormitories, giggling and doing each other's hair.

Hermione was sneaking back to Ron and Padma's rooms, as she had discovered that getting ready for a ball was not nearly as fun as it is when someone helps you.

She was glancing behind her, when she ran into someone. It was Draco.

"Oh, hey Draco," she said, blushing. "What're you doing?"

He shrugged, but peered closer at her, noticing the blush. 'She hasn't blushed at me since before we broke up. Does she...?' he thought. Out loud, he said, "Oh, nothing. Just heading back to get my robes. I see you've already been at our-um, the rooms. Getting your robes?"

Hermione shrugged back, blushing a bit harder. "No. I was going to get ready there, but decided it'd be a bit lonely doing it there. Are you going back to Ernie's rooms after this?"

Draco nodded. "Yeah, we're going to get our dates together."

"Oh," said Hermione. "So, are you going to go all the way down to the dungeons, or are you meeting her in the Great Hall?"

"What?" said Draco, confused, "Meet who?"

"Your date..."

"I don't have a date."

"Oh, I heard... otherwise."

"Really," said Draco, intrigued. "And who was this mystery woman?"

"I'd heard," said Hermione, "that you were going with Pansy Parkinson."

"That two timing slut? I think not."

Hermione glanced down at her watch. "Ohmigosh! I've only got fifteen minutes! I've got to go, Draco!" She ran off, calling over her shoulder, "See you at the ball!"

~*~

Seven Forty-Five, Fifteen Minutes Before the Ball

Hermione stumbled through the portrait hole and fell out of it, right on her butt.

"There you are," said Lavender, cheerfully. "Did you use the potion?"

"Of course not, Lav," said Hermione. "Alcohol is not the proper way to solve your problems. And it's a bad habit. I'm here to get ready."

"Well of course you are," said Lavender, primly. "I knew you'd be back. You've taken a shower, of course?"

Hermione sniffed imperiously. "What do you take me for Lavender? A savage? I've taken eight showers!"

"Good!" cried Lavender, clapping her hands together. "Now, let's get ready!"

And they did.

~*~

Seven Fifty, Ten Minutes Before the Ball

The guys walked down the corridors separating Ernie and Pansy's rooms and Ron and Padma's.

They were all crisply dressed in their dress robes.

Ron was wearing some robes that the twins bought for him. They were a very lovely green that blended very well with his hair.

Harry was wearing a pair of black dress robes that matched Ginny's white ones expertly.

And Draco was hanging at the edge of the crowd, wearing his blue ones that matched Hermione's.

They arrived at the portrait, and all the girls came out. Draco noticed one girl's distinct absence.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked Lavender quietly.

"Oh, she went on ahead a few minutes ago," she said, smiling at his expression. "She said she'd meet us there. Plus, she had to work on a few things, last-minute tweaking, you know."

"Oh," said Draco. He moved away to the back of the crowd of lovebirds, deep in thought.

~*~

At the Ball

Hermione walked around the Great Hall, touching up a few things. She bustled over to the music table and tapped a few keys.

"Oh, come on!" she said, irritated.

"A problem, Ms. Granger?" asked the soft voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"Oh, hello professor," said Hermione, blushing at her outburst. "What brings you here?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Oh, I heard a student in need and came to see what was the matter; so, Ms. Granger, what is the problem?"

"I can't get the Magic Disc Jockey to play this song, professor. D'you know how to work this thing?"

Dumbledore's forehead wrinkled. "Hmm... Maybe you push this button here," he suggested.

Music blasted out of the speakers.

"Thank you, professor," said Hermione, happily. "And, if I may sir, that is a, um, strange costume."

Dumbledore beamed. "I know. But, you must always have someone be the odd man out, and poor Severus needs a break. But, I'll be going out to the table now. I will see you later, Ms. Granger." And he turned, his, er, fluffy white cottontail wiggling.

Hermione watched him go and stifled a snicker. "Oh, dear," she said to herself, glancing down at the keyboard. "Now, just think of this as a Muggle computer. Here's the keyboard, and the monitor, and there's the modem, or whatever it's called." She fiddled around with it for a moment, and then, "Ah! That's how you work the bloody thing!" She glanced down at her watch and sighed. "Well, time to go to dinner," she said, and picked up her skirts and walked out of a side door to the terrace.

Hermione looked at all the happy couples, being led to their seats by some very lucky third years. Looking to her right, she saw Ewan approaching her.

~*~

Draco walked onto the terrace, and saw Ewan walking towards Hermione. Acting quickly, he went over and grabbed Ewan's arm, pinning him to the Castle wall.

"If you even so much as look in Hermione's direction," Draco growled to a scared Ewan, "I will break your face. And then you'll have them to worry about." Draco motioned towards Ron and Harry, who were glaring at Ewan, rubbing their hands together. "I'm only going to tell you once." Draco loosened his grip, and glared at Ewan, before walking off.

~*~

Dinner was unpleasant for both Draco and Hermione, as they were seated by themselves, on opposite ends of the teachers' table.

Hermione, at least, was able to leave early, as she was in charge of the music.

She fiddled with the MDJ for a moment, kicked the modem-thingy, and cursed at it.

~*~

"Ms. Granger," called Professor McGonagall. "Ms. Granger, I do believe it is time for the students to come in."

"Oh, yes, of course, professor," said Hermione. "I've just figured out this bloody thing, thank God."

"Good, good," said McGonagall, exiting.

~*~

Draco entered the Great Hall, and stared at the sights around him.

The gorgeous silk ceiling-cover was absolutely spectacular.

All the other decorations were lovely, and fit perfectly with the mood.

A song came on, and he listened to it with curiosity.

---

To every broken heart in here

Love was once a part, but now it's disappeared

She told me that it's all part of the choices that you make, yeah

Even when you think you're right

You have to give to take

---

Draco smiled, the lyrics feeling familiar.

---

But there's still tomorrow

Forget the sorrow

And I can be on the last train home

Watch it pass the day

As it fades away

No more time to care

No more time, today

---

The crowd that had gone in while he had just stood in the entrance parted. On the other side of the room, Hermione stood, smiling at him. She waved, and a blush bloomed over her cheeks.

Another verse played through and he laughed at it, and smiled back at Hermione.

He started to cross the room.

---

But we sing

If we're going nowhere

Yeah we sing

If it's not enough

And we sing

Sing without a reason

To ever fall in love

I wonder if you're listening

Picking up on the signals

Sent back from within

Sometimes it feels like I don't really know what's going on

Time and time again it seems like everything is wrong in here

---

He pushed through the last of the crowd and stood before Hermione.

"Well," he said.

"I know," she replied. "I've been an idiot."

Draco grinned. "We're all one, at least once. Don't worry about it."

"So, does this mean..." Hermione trailed off.

"I guess so," said Draco charmingly. He crossed the two yards that separated them, and pulled her into his arms. "I love you. I always did, even if I was an arsehole."

Hermione smiled up at him. "I love you, too, even if you were a arsehole."

Draco looked at her, raising his eyebrows. Hermione laughed. "I mean, even though I was an idiot."

"That's better," murmured Draco, closing the distance between them.

"I know," said Hermione, before she melted into his arms.

~*~

"Well, Ron," said Harry, grinning, "I told you they'd make up before Christmas. Pay up."

Ginny slapped Harry's shoulder. "You bet on they're getting back together? That's horrible, Harry James Potter!"

Harry gave her an amused look. "And you didn't?" Ginny looked away. "Ha! So did you lose, or win?"

"Actually, I won twenty Galleons from Parvati, I've got to go find her," said Ginny, walking away quickly, a superior look on her face.

"Well, Ron?" said Harry, looking over to Ron, who was digging in his pockets. "You owe me fifteen Galleons. Pay up."

"Is it okay if I pay you later?" asked Ron. "I left my money from the bet a few days ago in my bag in Ernie's room.

"Fine then," said Harry. "But you're not getting out of paying me. Not by a long shot."

~*~

Draco and Hermione were sitting on a couch, gazing into each other's eyes, when they heard a most unwelcome voice.

"Hermione? Can I explain? Please?" said Ewan.

Draco turned to the Ravenclaw. "Now, you Ravenclaw," he said, glaring. "I told you to keep away from Hermione, didn't I?" Ewan nodded, speechless. "And now, I'm going to have to break your face."

"Oh, Draco," said Harry, from behind Ewan. Ewan jumped. "Why do you have to have all the fun? It's just not fair."

"I want to beat up the wanker Ravenclaw, too," whined Ron, from the other side of Ewan. The Ravenclaw started to shiver.

Draco held his hand up. "Now, now, let's give him another chance, shall we? You," he said, pointing to Ewan, "will stay away from Hermione as originally planned, and we won't break your lovely nose, all right? If you don't, then," Draco cracked his knuckles, "we get to have our way with things."

Ewan fled.

Hermione leaned over and kissed Draco right beneath his ear. "Good job, m'dear." She grinned, and stood up. "Let's dance."

~*~

As Draco and Hermione whirled around the dance floor for a fifteenth time, Dumbledore, in his pink bunny costume, called a halt.

"I know that I told you that we would be announcing the new Head Boy and Girl next week, but I just couldn't wait," Dumbledore beamed. "May I present you with your new Heads, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger!"

"Whoa," said Draco and Hermione together.

~*~

The ball ended, and Draco and Hermione had gone back to their rooms, tired.

They stood at the bottom to Hermione's staircase, kissing. Before Hermione went up the stairs, Draco grinned at her.

"Come with me," he said. He raced up the staircase to her room, dragging her behind him. He pulled her onto the balcony, and yelled to the whole world, "I LOVE HERMIONE GRANGER!!!!!" Hermione grinned at this display of love. A tear slipped down her cheek at she yelled, "AND I LOVE DRACO MALFOY!!!"